Due to a Lack of Personnel Warm Springs Correctional Center in Carson City Will Close

CARSON CITY, Nev. (775 Times, NV Globe) – The Nevada Department of Corrections announced on Monday that the Warm Springs Correctional Center in Carson City will be temporarily closed in order to improve safety and security while cutting overtime.

According to NDOC, almost all prisoners at Warm Springs Correctional Center will be transferred to the adjacent Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City beginning in December, with no loss of privileges or programming.

“Placing WSCC into a sustained temporary closure and distributing personnel to other institutions will allow for safer conditions for both staff and offenders,” said Acting Director William Gittere. “The increase in staffing at the other institutions will improve our ability to meet Constitutional and state law requirements related to the effective management of the offender population. Decreased overtime directly improves work stress and fatigue, which will be a key factor in the improvement to the quality of life and retention of staff.”

NDOC stated that no jobs will be lost and that staff would not be relocated outside of the area unless they volunteered.

Staffing shortages have plagued Nevada’s state prisons. According to a department spokesman, vacancies at sites in northern Nevada range from 47% to 52%.

According to the agency, the initiative will save the state $14 million each year in overtime and operating expenditures.

Warm Springs was constructed in 1961 as the Nevada Women’s Correctional Center and functioned as such until 1997, when it was converted to a medium-security men’s prison.

The jail will remain shuttered indefinitely, according to the NDOC. They have not announced a reopening date.

Credits: Fox Reno